by Jimmy O'Hara  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser 1. Submit to self at the mercy of an army of cannibalistic teeth. 2. Worship at the altar of a cheesy marinara god. 3. Battle demons from the passenger seat of a predatory automobile. 4. Join a fair/competitively priced pyramid scheme headed by THE Barbara Crampton! (And THE Ax Man!) 5. Stream ETHERIA FILM NIGHT 2024, a short film festival dedicated to championing female identifying genre filmmakers, on Shudder NOW!  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser A delightfully dreadful and diverse showing of genre filmmaking promoting independent Women filmmakers within the industry, both on and off screen! From body snatching folklore to edible eldritch horror to a satirical, social media induced slasher, these nine short selections from Women writers, directors, producers, and stars entertain a wide variety of chills, thrills, and overall good genre entertainment (and all under 120-minutes)!  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser Kicking things off with the equal parts cheeky and GORY “creature” feature, Tooth, writer Katie Gault and director Jillian Corsie bring a new meaning to “body horror”. Janine Peck stars in a near silent but sensational performance as an elderly woman attacked by her own…teeth!?! Stylish, funny, and BLOODY from start to finish! These teeth have literal teeth and…well, let’s just say that these cannibalistic canines bite back!  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser Faye Jackson’s Ten of Swords brings its own unique hunger. Theo Solomon stars as a zombie with not only a constant craving, but ALSO a conscience as the latest victim of a late-stage capitalistic venture seeking to monetize…the afterlife?!? And these zombies don’t moan and groan all day! Instead, they hold blue collar jobs, perform musical numbers, and form undead unions of likeminded, reanimated proletaries. This gritty allegorical critique offers a chillingly close glimpse into a not-so-distant future society SUFFERING (both living AND dead) under capitalism. A sleek display of postmodern science fiction and jam packed with brutally symbolic imagery, touchingly nuanced performances, and visually dynamic direction. Jackson’s story makes the strongest case for feature-length adaptation with vast potential for lore expansion within her meticulously crafted universe.  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser Video Sofie Somoroff’s Ride Baby Ride, an antithesis to John Carpenter’s Christine (1983), matches the colorfully whimsical atmospheres established in both aforementioned outings brilliantly, but subtextual exploration of gender roles and female sexual assault dissolves far less comfortably than themes addressed in preceding festival romps. The short runtime is intentional, choosing to abandon the audience as quickly as possible in an effort to disarm their sensibilities throughout the violent action sequence. A non-stop heart racer of (wo)man vs. beast. A young, female mechanic in the middle of nowhere fighting for much more than just her life. The audience can’t help but be affected until after the credits roll. So fast paced, so action packed, so thrilling that it is only capable of being fully digested in the aftermath. A rather disarming and confounding viewing experience that is eerily emblematic of what survivors experience in the wake of an assault.. Subversive, stifling, surreal!  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser Video And yet, it is Grace Rex’s alluringly unnerving The Shadow Wrangler that steals the show with a provocative probe into the (increasingly) blurry psyche of a smut novelist as she is haunted by metaphysical ruminations of grief. The heavily stylized worlds, of both the writer’s reality and her fiction, clash violently in melodramatic juxtaposition. All seamlessly produced with refreshing polish by writer/director Rex and held together by Mitzki Akaha’s star-making performance in the leading role; equal parts tenacious and grounded, Akaha navigates comedy, drama, and horror with sultry magnetism and cool, veteran-like ease. No matte backdrops, painted with fields of bright flowers hidden between puffy pink clouds, nor romantic sunsets, washing out debonair highwaymen from the dirtiest, wettest dream, can color the dark shadows that creep within this lonely writer’s apartment. A visual FEAST, Rex is the real deal and Akaha has serious chops to match! A duo made in Hollywood heaven (which probably is nowhere near as stunning as that opening sequence)!  Source: Etheria Film Festival 2024 Teaser Video The festival closes out on the high note with the most hilariously absurd (complimentary) piece for last, Brea Grant’s MLM. Horror legend Barbara Crampton is at the center of a horrific scam aimed at utilizing social media to victimize wealthy, and lonely, suburban housewives. Comedic tour de force’s Jessika Van and Courtney Pauroso succumb to the negative consequences of their “feminist” subscription as the final act, fully allowing the leading duo to show off their range as actors in a meta comedic display of slapstick, satire, and slasher HORROR. The subscription may be terminal, but shipping is free!
Etheria Film Night 2024 is also free to view on their website AND Shudder! Horror fans, be sure to support these works (and more!) from up-and-coming Women filmmakers…or else face the wrath of the Ax Man!
0 Comments
 by Jimmy O'Hara “Freddy’s here and he’s…queer?” The year is 1985, and Freddy Krueger’s deadly streak has returned to the satanic-panicked homes of Elm Street. This time, he’s back with a vengeance that’s gnarlier, more imaginative, and more gay?! Yeah, more gay than he, or any slasher masked villain icon, has ever been before on the silver screen.  Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) is widely regarded as the lackluster follow up to the pop culture and blockbuster monolith that was its predecessor and subsequent franchise creator. But to its gay star, gay screenwriter, and gay fans, it's a sexy sequel full of fabulous pride! Scream, Queens! Freddy is back to SLAY! The queer imagery explodes off the screen from the moment the credits begin to roll. The allegorical bullying on the yellow school bus ends with an absurdist nightmare death sequence with Freddy that propels our lead, Mark Patton’s Jesse, into a sexy cold sweat in his even sexier tighty-whities. A Kate Bush poster on the wall above his bed, a “no chicks allowed” sign on the bedroom door, and a baseball shaped lamp that quite literally looks like a cock! Could it get any GAYER!? Yes! A quick cut to Jesse in gym class with sweaty thirty three year old models playing high school extras in jockstraps, short shorts, and certified 80s midriffs. Jesse’s new to Elm and this school, and his new frenemy Ron teases him about their teacher hanging out at “BDSM clubs and liking pretty boys like you”.  Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer / Imgflip Luckily, Jesse has a straight, popular girl crush, Lisa, to help him navigate it all. So why is Jesse struggling to commit to her for…unexplainable reason?! Even more unexplainable, Jesse’s dreams have become increasingly violent. As the nightmares get more vivid, so does the homosexual subtext! The most overtly queer sequence is without a doubt Jesse’s first DEADLY nightmare. Jesse dreams he finds himself barefoot, shirt unbuttoned, hot and sweaty (he spends much of the film like this) at a leather gay bar where he runs into his Gym Teacher, just as Ron had chided earlier. His teacher takes him back to the school gym to run barefoot laps as punishment (wink, wink), and he watches him from the sideline in his leather daddy vest, assless chaps, and matching leather wrist cuffs. As Jesse hits the showers, his teacher removes a jump rope from his utility cabinet and places it in the seat in front of his desk - presumably to engage in B in BDSM with his student! Questionable 80s morality even for Freddy I guess, as it is at this moment that our infamous nightmare creature sinks his claws into the first victim, Daddy Gym Teacher, by binding him with the jump rope in the showers and whipping him to death. Jesse is terrified. Did he have a kinky sex dream about his gym teacher or did he kill his gym teacher!? As the lines between dream and reality blur throughout the film, so do Jesse’s sexual desires. The homosexual yearning peaks again when Jesse helplessly climbs through Ron’s window (emulating Glen and Nancy in the first film, wink, wink) in search of someone to…sleep with! He doesn’t go to his family or Lisa, but his homeorotic frenemy! Ron lies on leather pillows and sheets, decorates his room with female punk rock bands, and sports a “no turkeys” sign taped to his bedroom door. “No turkeys” can be rephrased for a modern audience as “no posers” or “come as you are” (WINK! WINK!).  Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer It is too late for Ron though, as Freddy quite literally COMES OUT of Jesse and kills his forbidden lover. It is also too late for Jesse, sadly. He has fallen victim to years of crushing repression as result of a life confined to stifling conservative suburbia. It IS a horror movie, after all! A true nightmare on Elm Street that rings far too true for many queer horror fans. Sure, it lacks the structure of the first film, but Freddy’s Revenge is full of queer imagery, subtext, and pride. Perfect for repeat viewing throughout this very special month! Jimmy O'Harais a queer writer, screenwriter, actor, and horror buff from Chicago, Illinois.  Source: AfterDark Substack by Jimmy O'Hara All Hallows Eve is significant around the world for various historical, cultural, and pop-cultural reasons, but for horror fans, the hype also revolves around the equally emblematic slasher hit Halloween (1978). Starring legendary, future Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis in her debut/breakout role, the small indie genre film perfected the slick storytelling of Black Christmas (1974) and combined it with the viscerally grunge gore of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) to cement the subgenre for over the next two decades; it propelled the slasher horror genre into the 1980s just in time for the encroaching reek of Reagan era satanic panic. Forty years later, Halloween (2018) premiered at the back end of the 2010’s to resurrect the slasher genre from a depth of hell in which even Jason and Freddy wouldn’t find themselves lurking. Once more, the slasher lives on to see a new decade: The 2020’s– bigger, better, and scarier than ever before seen on screens. Jason sycophants and Crystal Lake campers may be offended that Friday the 13th (1980) is not being credited as patient zero for the slasher BOOM that defined the 80s. Yet, despite premiering at the top of the decade, Friday the 13th would not have become the blockbuster series it continues to be (A24’s Camp Crystal Lake serialized adaptation drops later this year) if Carpenter’s hit hadn’t first succeeded in subverting horror fans, critics, and general audience perceptions alike two years prior. Without Halloween, audiences would have never met Jason and his mother, Freddy and the dream warriors of Elm Street, or even Ghostface and his movie buffs DECADES later. Nearly three hundred (300!!!) American slashers were produced between 1980-1989 alone. Those kinds of numbers, and their continuous cultural impact, are hard to recreate. But the 2020’s dare to try, and it's all thanks to Carpenter's franchise. Cut to 2018, Curtis is in a career resurgence…EXACTLY forty years after her debut in Halloween. It was the perfect time for a Halloween revival and, with the help of a changing world, evolving tastes, and the viewpoints of a new generation, the perfect time to breathe new life into the slasher! Since 2018, and even more since the 2020’s began, audiences have been treated to revivals of their favorite franchises including Scream, Friday the 13th, The Strangers. And movies like MaXXXIne, Fear Street, and Bodies Bodies Bodies are shining, fresh stars for a new, slasher-loving generation. The slasher was first introduced during a conflicted era in American history; in the shadow of a war and political stagnation, social repressions manifested on the surface of mainstream consciousness revolving around gender and sexuality. It was similar to where we are now; in the wake of a global pandemic and rampant and rising conservatism, a new generation is reshaping the dialogue that will define America’s future (or else face a fate worse than a slasher victim). In this environment, it’s natural that the slasher be reworked as well. An iconic, genre-defining, critically acclaimed, and period-reflecting slasher masterpiece like Halloween or Scream has yet to reveal itself in this new generation. It will though, sooner rather than later, because the 2020’s are THE first decade to watch for horror since the 1980s concluded.  Art by Justin Addison Friends of The Bitter Wolf
Greetings, pesky humans! It is I, B.P. Wolf, with some semi-embarrassing news to share. During this year’s Wolf Moon, I may have gotten a bit carried away with the festivities. Connie forgot to deadbolt the door, so I escaped from my den and paid a visit to the local village. I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened, but in my state of ecstasy, it seems I was more anaconda than wolf that day. Later, I burped up various assortments of teeth and bone, three full fingers, a throat piece (I don’t know what that’s called!), someone’s ponytail, and four or five separate wallets. Would you believe that between all of those wallets, I was only able to scrounge up enough change for a single McFlurry? And then the machine was broken. Criminal! Anyway, this happened all the way back in January. I had just begun settling into another hibernation when the villagers came along and dragged me kicking and screaming out of my cave. Pro-tip: Never black out and gobble down everyone’s credit cards and expect no repercussions from the sensitive humans. Their wheels of injustice might be slow, but in this case, they were steady, and now I’ve been sentenced by the Wolf People’s Court to make “regular contact with humankind.” So, I decided to make you, my readers, suffer with me! Every month, I’ll present to you this court-ordered commentary written by some horror-loving human acquaintances. I told them they can ramble on about whatever topics they think are important. I don’t care! I’m just doing my civic duty. Without further ado, I'm pleased to introduce Jimmy O’Hara! Jimmy is a versatile queer artist who writes horror commentary over at his AfterDark blog. He also acts, writes screenplays, and is known around the world as the #1 aficionado of all things Scooby-Doo. Okay, that last part might be an exaggeration. He likes Scooby-Doo. But Jimmy, I ask you this: How can you promote that evil Mutt of Mystery? He consistently slurps up the last of the McFlurries! Don’t believe me? Do you have a better explanation for why those machines are always “broken”? There's no mystery to these machines. It’s Scoob! Anway, let me shut up so Jimmy can tell you what he thinks about slasher movies, then and now. Connie, leave that mouse alone and pay attention! Jimmy’s talking. |
About The Bitter WolfPart-time wolf. Archives
December 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed